Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
Aboriginal creative and cultural space in heart of Redfern secured after prologued Council consideration
Jarred Cross National Indigenous Times (No paywall)After deferred discussion, Aboriginal creative and cultural use will be prioritised in the future use of a large and much-loved hub in Redfern. Last week, City of Sydney councillors carried a motion on 107 Redfern Street unanimously, a site previously managed by social enterprise '107 Projects' as an arts hub and regular exhibition space. Following proposed amendments to the site's planned future as a broader creative space not prioritising the local Indigenous community in February, independent Councillor and Wiradjuri woman Yvonne Weldon's motion putting Aboriginal interests front and centre was approved on March 17. With it, City of Sydney have committed to "prioritise local Aboriginal creative and cultural use of 107 Redfern Street, while retaining broader community use".
https://nit.com.au/24-03-2025/16987/aboriginal-creative-and-cult…
# Hot topic NSW, .Better Deal for Renters – report card
Tenants' Union of NSW (No paywall)
As campaigning begins in the lead up to the Federal election on the 3rd May 2025 the National Association of Renters’ Organisations (NARO) is calling for urgent, decisive action to give renters a fair go across all States and Territories. It's vital that renters who make up 30% of all Australian households are taken seriously by our next Federal Government. 18 months on since the National Cabinet announced the Better Deal for Renters with the goal of harmonising and strengthening renters rights there is still significant work required to enhance the renting experience of Australians. NARO’s report card assessing progress of all States and Territories in implementing the Better Deal for Renters is attached.
https://www.tenants.org.au/reports/better-deal-renters-report-ca…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Rent.The rent crisis behind Australia’s two-faced cities
Inga Ting, Katia Shatoba, Alex Palmer and Thomas Brettel ABC (No paywall)The bitter irony of sprucing up mansions when you can barely afford a roof over your own head isn’t lost on Perth house painter Glen Pendlebury. Public transport isn’t an option when you’ve got tools and hand rollers and 10-litre cans of paint. So Glen drives an hour, sometimes an hour-and-a-half, to job sites in neighbourhoods he can’t afford to live in. He’s then slapped with parking fines “because there’s no parking in Perth, either”, he says.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-06/the-rent-crisis-behind-au…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, Rent.Fact check: are international students making it harder to find a place to rent as Dutton claims?
Krishani Dhanji The Guardian (No paywall)Peter Dutton claims cutting at least 80,000 new international students from Australian higher education institutions will make it easier for you to find a rental property, saying Labor’s high migration intake has fuelled the housing crisis. It would mean space for 115,000 at publicly funded universities and up to 125,000 overseas students in VET sector (such as Tafe), private universities (including the Gold Coast’s Bond University and Melbourne Business School) and non-university higher education providers.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/06/fact-chec…
# Must read, Research alert Australia, .The postcodes where rent chews up half your pay cheque
Inga Ting, Thomas Brettell, Katia Shatoba and Alex Palmer ABC (No paywall)This September, Melanie Misuraca and her daughters will swallow their third rent hike in as many years. It will push their rent up to 54 per cent of their household income before tax. The family were forced to move in 2022, after the COVID public health emergency ended. They managed to stay on Queensland’s Gold Coast but now pay nearly double for a smaller home — and the rent just keeps creeping up. “I’ve already signed the lease … it will be going up to $650 a week,” says the single mum. “[At our previous place] we were paying about $380 a week. We had been living there for nine years.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-07/the-postcodes-where-rent-…
# Hot topic, Research alert Australia, Rent.Queensland solar program aims to reduce power bills for renters
Rachel Stewart ABC (No paywall)A solar panel rebate program for Queensland rental properties announced by the LNP more than a year ago will roll out by the end of the year, aiming to save renters up to $700 a year on power bills. The state government's $26 million program will run over three years and offer grants of up to $3,500 for landlords towards the installation of solar on rental properties. The "cost-of-living relief" subsidy was an election promise made by the LNP in March last year ahead of the state election, which the party went on to win in October.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-07/queensland-solar-program-…
# Hot topic Australia, .Rent-to-buy scheme to make home ownership a reality on Palm Island
Lily Nothling ABC (No paywall)Leon Coutts has lived in the same three-bedroom home his entire life. "There's a lot of memories — it's Christmases, its birthdays," the Bwgcolman man said. "I could never imagine living anywhere else." The 49-year-old carpenter's father moved into the house on north Queensland's Palm Island in the late 1970s. But the family never had the option to purchase their own home. Of the island's 480 properties only one is privately owned. Everyone else lives in state-run social housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-06/indigenous-home-ownership…
# Must read Australia, Aboriginal renters, Public and community housing.Women-only support service helps former prisoners return to community
Rachael Merritt ABC (No paywall)After spending three months in prison, Sarah's transition back to community life and motherhood was nothing short of difficult. "To come from being in prison to back out in society … you're wanting to do the right thing," she said. "I struggled a little bit … especially with housing." Sarah, whose name in this story has been changed, was released from an Adelaide prison earlier this year. It is an increasingly vulnerable time for women, according to advocates, as they struggle with the stigma of their time spent behind bars and join growing waiting lists for social and affordable housing.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-03/support-for-women-transit…
# Must read, Hot topic Australia, .